houston



(No Model.) 4 Sheets- Sheet 1.

E. J'. HOUSTON.

UNDERGROUND CCNDUIT RCR ELECTRIC CCNDUCTCRS. No. 808,612. Patented DCC. 2, 1884.

(No Model.) 4 Sheets- Sheet- 2. E. J. HOUSTON.

UNDERGROUND GONDUIT POR ELECTRIC CONDUCTOR-S.

Patented Deo. 2, 1884.

(No Model.) 4 sheets-sheet. 3.

E. J. HOUSTON.

UNDERGROUND OONDUIT FOR ELECTRIC OONDUOTORS.

Patented Deo. 2, 1884.

(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 4.

E. J. HUSTON.

UNDERGROUND GONDUIT POR ELECTRIC GONDUGTORS.

No. 308,612. Patented Deo. 2, 1884.

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICEo EDVIN J. HOUSTON, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO TI'IE THOMSON-HOUSTON ELECTRIC COMPANY, OF NEV BRITAIN, CONN.

UNDERGROUND CONDUIT FOR ELECTRiC CONDUCTORS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 308,612, dated December 2, 1884.

Application filed December 30, 1882. (No model.)

T @ZZ whom, it may concern:

Beit known that I, EDWIN J. HoUsToN, acitizen ofthe United States, and a resident of Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful'Improvements in Underground Conduits for Electric Conductors, of which the following is a specification.

In any system of underground conduits for 1c electric conductors it is manifestly advantageous to insure ease in laying` the conduit in the first instance, and to maintain a ready accessibility toit thereafter, for the purpose of laying the electrical conductors or for repairing or replacing them.

It is primarily the object of my invention to obtain these advantages in conduits for underground conductors.

In the second place, my invention has for its 2c object such a construction of underground cable or conductor for electrical currents as will obviate the necessity for maintaining the conduit free from moisture.

The second object of my invention is necessarly connected with the first, since it enables me to place the conduits for the wires in such positions and under such circumstances as would otherwise be impracticable.

Finally, my invention involves novel meth- 3o ods of so protecting the leading` wires or conductors as to more effectually secure them against the effects of the moisture and other corrosive agencies to which they will necessarily be exposed when placed in conduits constructed according to the principles ot' my invention. l

In the accompanying drawings, Figure I is a perspective view of a conduit embodying my invention. Fig. 2 shows my improved 4o surface underground conduit applied to the entire surface of a street or roadway. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a lid for the conduit. Fig. I shows afiid applied to the conduit. Fig. 5 is a perspective view showing the aca 5 cessory conduit with its cover removed. Fig.

6 is a diagram showing the arrangement of the loops from a series of conductors to the tapping-conduit. Fig. 7 shows an improved arrangement of loop-wire. Fig. 8 shows a duit.

circuit. Fig. 10 shows a novel support for the conductors in the main conduit. Fig. 1l shows said support in place in its conduit.

In Fig. l is shown a hollow box or conduit of cast-iron, wood, or other suitable material of any desired shape. The separate wires, having an insulating covering or not, are suitably supported inside this box by any wellknown device.

A A, A A', A2 A2 represent the hollow box or conduit, made in three parallel sections, in this case rectangular in shape,with their containing-wires.

In A A the wires are laid in parallel layers on beds of pitch run in between them, or otherwise supported or arranged-as, for instance, by frames or supports of insulating material, as is well understood in the art. A frame or support particularly adapted for this purpose will be described further on. In this case I prefer to previously insulate the wires before running in the melted pitch or paraffine.

In A A the containing-wires are arranged in vertical rows, supported in any suitable manner by hooks placed on boards or standards.

In connection with the section A2 A2, I have shown a device that may conveniently be employed for obtaining access to the separate wires in the conduit. This device consists of the parallel accessory tapping trough or pipe B, which may be placed alongside each separate conduit, and is used in the manner to be hereinafter described. The cover or lid of the conduit may be made in any way or of any material that will both adapt it for keeping the moisture from the box and will be suitable for the roadway. I do not limit myself to any particular construction or material for this purpose. Some constructions that auswer very well consist of shallow frames or trays of cast-iron filled with blocks of stone or slabs of wood, D D', Fig. l; or what will 95 also be found to be well suited for this purpose is to iill the cast-iron frame with artiiicial stone, or with any sufticiently-hard bituminous concrete. Any desired surface may be given to these covers so as to present sui'- ico cient friction to prevent the slipping of horses or other 'beasts of burden.

A cast-iron frame that serves to receive or hold the material that is to form the wearing surface of the road-bed is shown in Fig. 3. It is there shown as consisting oi" a rectangular frame with an imperioratc bedAplate, S, and rims er edges It, partially perforated, as at o 0 00o, to permit the discharge of any water that might enter. A lower i'lange, II, rests in a groove in the top edge of the conduit ai- Io ter the manner shown in Fig. 4, and prevents the entrance of water thereto. The contiguous sections of the covers to the conduit overlap one another i'or the same purpose. Any suitable construction may be adopted for this purpose.

I will now describe the use of the accessory tapping-conduit I3. This I provide for the purpose of securing ease in making connection with any ot' a great number ot' wires in 2o the conduit. In this case any insulating mateiialwsucli, for example, as a board-is placed, as shown in Figs. l and 5, at X Y, so as to divide the rectangular cast-iron box into two compartments. I pass short loops from 2 5 the conductors through holes in the sides oi' this partition and prevent them from being pulled out by means of short pinsi 'i i i, placed through the loop.

In order to provide for the ready recognition of any particular wire in a number, I arrange these loops so that they will be i'ound in some previously-arranged order. Thus, if the wires are arranged in the conduit in tour vertical rows, I cause the loop in any horizontal row to pass through openings made in that part of the partition situated in substantially the same horizontal line, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6. Thus, as is more clearly seen in Fig. G, where one horizontal row et' wires is 4o shown-say, for example, the upper row in any conduit-the wire I is shown as forming two loops at any suitable distance apart at Iand l. The next wire, 2, forms loops that are situated at 2 2, adjoining l and l. So, also, the next wires, 3 and 4, i'orm loops at 3 and 3 and 4t and 4t. IV here I desire to leave larger loops in the wires, in order to cconomize the space in B, I pass them through wider slots in X Y and form coils Q Q/ 5' Q, and secure them in 5o position by pins passing through the coils, as in Fig. 7. rIhe wires placed in the conduits may be either single or suitably insulated and. twisted in cables. IV here the conduits are intended for telegraph or telephone circuits,

I prefer to avoid the ei'ieets ot' induction by the use oi' the well-known metal-eovered insulated wires. This is especially necessary when electric-light circuits are placed in the same or in adjoining conduits, in which case it 6o is advisable that the anti-induction metallic covering be placed in good electrical contact with the ground.

I may either construct my conductor-conduits so as to avoid the entrance of water, or,

it' I use thc accessory conduit I, whichI term. the tapping-conduit, I may iill them with any protecting and insulating material, such as melted pitch or paral'line. In this case, since it will seldom be necessary to remove the larger covers I) D or D D of the main conduits, they may be permanently attached to their respective conduits, and I3 only provided with a readily-removable cover. The tapping'conduit I3 may be placed in the position shown in Figs. I and 5, or, 'for convenience, the same conduit I3 may serve tor two conduits, in which ease it is placed between them.

I may utilize the shortloops that are passed from the main conduit A to the accessory or tapping conduit IS ier the purpose of carrying ott lnanches, so as to enter stores or dwellings, iu the manner shown in Fig. S, where a branch conduit, XV, is connected to the accessory conduit Il by any suitable joint at the point in the conduit at which it is desired the current shall be supplied. In this case I form an accessory conduit at the end ol' the branch conduit where it enters the mainas, for example, at Z. This permits me, as before explained, to render the rest ot' the con duit, as IV, impervious to water by i'illing it with pitch or other suitable insulator.

The conductors C C may be passed ihrou gh any insulating material in the side ofthe conduit A, and connected with conductors C C', extending from the branch conduit at d d, or, when convenient, may be passed directlyinto the branch conduit \V by pulling the wire into the position shown at C C. Ot' course this can only be done in the iirst instance bei'ore the insulating material is poured into A. Il", as is oi'ten the ease, the branch connection is to be formed after the conduit A is iillcd with insulating materia, then recourse is had to the accessory conduit I3 and its loops, which are then connected in any suitable manner at d d with the i'ree ends oi" the conductors in the branch conduit XV. The free ends oi' the conductors ot' the branch conduits are thoroughly insulated, so as to prevent any injury being done by entrance of moisture. I sometimes place over the curb or in other suitable position-it may bein the branch conduits-a cut-out, S, Fig. 9, which cuts out the branch C C It. This cut-out is worked by means ot' a screw-key, II, which is mounted in a box, J, on the conduit, and moves the strip S to or from the conductors C In order to provide i'or the excavation of the street or roadbed under the conduits, Isometimes build light arches oi" masonry or brickwork, or I i'orm the conduitsinsuitably-jointed sections, so as to permit of their ready removal.

YVhen the conductors to be placed in my conduits are insulated by being passed through periorated buttons or rings ot' porcelain, glass,

or other solid insulating material, I provide for loops being readily taken out therei'rom,in order to connect with the tapping-conduit I3, by the construction ot' the porcelain insulators, shown in Figs. IG and ll, consisting of a disk or button of porcelain, II, or other snit- IIC iig

able material, provided with ears or lugs Ml M', furnished with one or tWo holes, as shown, for the loop-Wire. In the use of these conduits for electric-light Wires I have found heavy copper Wire suitably insulated and protected by a coating of lead to answer admira-v bly. Such Wire may be protected by a coating of pitch,after heilig placed in the conduit, in all cases when it is not desired to avoid the effects of induction. Then this, however, is necessary in order to prevent any injury to the softv coating of lead, I coat it by an electricallydeposited layer of copper or iron, and thus preserve the electrical conducting power of the metallic covering.

Vhat I claim as my invention isl. The combination, with an underground conduit, of a lid composed of an imperforate bed-plate having a perforated raised edge.

2. The combination, with a main or princi pal conduit for electric conductors, of a parallel accessory tapping conduit, said main conduit being constructed to permit access to the conductors therein from the tapping-conduit, as and for the purpose described.

3. The combination, With an underground conduit containing a series of electric conductors embedded in insulating` material, of a parallel hollow tapping conduit or trough, and connections from the conductors in said underground conduit, to permit connection to be made With Wires in the tapping-conduit.

4. The combination, with the underground conduit, of the parallel tapping-conduit, separated therefrom by the partition, and the loop- Wires passing through said partition.

5. rIhe combination of the main conduit containing the insulated wires, exposed by means of loops or otherwise, so as to permit connection to be made with them through the Wall of said conduit, the parallel tapping-coa duit, and the branch conduit connected to the latter.

6. The combination, with the perforated disk o r plate M, of the perforated plate M, at right angles thereto, serving as a support for the loop ofthe conductor support by M.

7. The combination, With the conductors contained in a sealed conduit, of loops or branches taken through the wall of the conduit from said conductors at various intervalslongitudinally and in uniform succession.

S. r)The combination, with the conductors contained in a sealed conduit and arranged parallel to one another in a number of planes, ot'loop-connections from each set of conductors in the same horizontal plane, carried through the Wall ofthe sealed conduit at points in the samehorizontal line, and in regular or uniform succession With relation to said conductors.

Signed at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State oi' Pennsylvania, this 29th day of December, A. D. 1882.

EDVIN J. HOUSTON.

Witnesses:

C. HOWARD CoLiin'r, HOWARD T. Jnrrnnrs. 

